US send stealth fighters to Qatar amid escalating tensions with Iran

The US has deployed F-22 stealth fighters to Qatar for the first time, its military said Friday, amid escalating tensions with Iran.

The Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighters have been deployed "to defend American forces and interests," the US Air Forces Central Military Command said in a statement.

The statement however did not specify how many hi-tech planes had been sent.

A photo handout showed five of the jets flying above the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

The F-22 movement comes a week after an Iranian surface-to-air missile shot down a US drone over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said the drone was in its airspace, but Washington claims it was over international waters.

Tehran and Washington have been locked in an escalating standoff since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from a multi-party 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic republic.

Iran has threatened to abandon some of its commitments under the nuclear deal unless the remaining partners -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia -- help it circumvent US sanctions and especially sell its oil.

In May, the US Air Force deployed several nuclear-capable B-52 Stratofortress bombers to the Gulf in response to what the Defense Department described as a possible plan by Iran to attack American forces in the region, as well as an aircraft carrier task force.